Distributed processing of sorted search results in an electronic commerce system and method

ABSTRACT

An electronic commerce system ( 10 ) includes a server ( 40 ) operating on one or more computers that communicates a search query for one or more products to one or more seller databases ( 32 ) that contain product data. Each seller database ( 32 ) generates local search results that are responsive to the search query. The server ( 40 ) also communicates one or more sorting parameters to the seller databases ( 32 ). The sorting parameters direct each seller database ( 32 ) to sort local search results generated at each seller database ( 32 ) according to the sorting parameters in response to the search query. In addition, the server ( 40 ) receives sorted local search results from one or more of the seller databases ( 32 ) and merges the sorted local search results received from the seller databases ( 32 ) to generate merged search results. Furthermore, the server ( 40 ) sorts the merged search results according to the sorting parameters and communicates the sorted merged search results to a user.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to electronic commerce and more particularly todistributed processing of search results in an electronic commercesystem.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Due to the ever-increasing popularity and accessibility of the Internetas a medium of communication, the number of business transactionsconducted using the Internet is also increasing, as is the number ofbuyers and sellers participating in electronic marketplaces providing aforum for these transactions. The majority of e-commerce transactionsoccur when a buyer determines a need for a product, identifies a sellerthat provides that product, and accesses the seller's web site toarrange a purchase of the product. If the buyer does not have apreferred seller or if the buyer is purchasing the product for the firsttime, the buyer will often perform a search for a number of sellers thatoffer the product and then access numerous seller web sites to determinewhich seller offers certain desired product features at the best priceand under the best terms for the buyer. The matching phase of e-commercetransactions (matching the buyer with a particular seller) is ofteninefficient because of the large amount of searching involved in findinga product and because once a particular product is found, the variousofferings of that product by different sellers may not be easilycompared.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, disadvantages and problemsassociated with previous e-commerce techniques have been substantiallyreduced or eliminated.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an electronic commercesystem includes a server operating on one or more computers thatcommunicates a search query for one or more products to one or moreseller databases that contain product data. Each seller databasegenerates local search results that are responsive to the search query.The server also communicates one or more sorting parameters to theseller databases. The sorting parameters direct each seller database tosort local search results generated at each seller database according tothe sorting parameters in response to the search query. In addition, theserver receives sorted local search results from one or more of theseller databases and merges the sorted local search results receivedfrom the seller databases to generate merged search results.Furthermore, the server sorts the merged search results according to thesorting parameters and communicates the sorted merged search results toa user.

Particular embodiments of the present invention may provide one or moretechnical advantages. Embodiments of the present invention may be usedin association with a global content directory (GCD) used by buyers tosearch for products offered by a number of sellers and to establishcommunications with an appropriate seller or sellers. In associationwith such a search, a buyer may select one or more product and/or sellerattributes by which the results of a search query of multiple sellerdatabases may be sorted. Particular embodiments of the present inventionprovide for presorting of the search results at each of the sellerdatabases and provide for a selected number of sorted search resultsfrom each seller database to be communicated to a GCD server associatedwith the GCD. The GCD server may then merge and sort the pre-sortedsearch results communicated from the seller databases and communicate aselected number of these sorted merged search results to the buyer.

Since the search results received from the seller databases arepre-sorted, the merging and sorting of these results by the GCD servermay require less processing power than sorting previously unsortedsearch results from numerous seller databases. Therefore, processingthat would normally be performed by the GCD server maybe distributed toand spilt between the seller databases. Furthermore, based on the numberof search results that the buyer wishes to view at one time, each sellerdatabase may only need to communicate a portion of the sorted searchresults from the seller database. Therefore, less data may need to becommunicated to and sorted by the GCD server than with previoussearching techniques. Other technical advantages may be readily apparentto those skilled in the art from the following figures, description, andclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To provide a more complete understanding of the present invention andthe features and advantages thereof, reference is made to the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example electronic commerce system;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example directory structure of an example globalcontent directory;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example table that may be included in a sellerdatabase of an electronic commerce system;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example electronic commerce system in furtherdetail; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method of pre-processing search results atone or more seller databases.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 10 that includes a network 12coupling buyers 20, sellers 30, and a global content directory (GCD)server 40. System 10 enables electronic commerce (“e-commerce”)transactions between buyers 20 and sellers 30 through the use of a GCD42 supported by GCD server 40. GCD 42 may be internal or external to GCDserver 40. Network 12 may include any appropriate combination of publicand/or private networks coupling buyers 20, sellers 30, and GCD server40. In an example embodiment, network 12 includes the Internet and anyappropriate local area networks (LANs), metropolitan area networks(MANs), or wide area networks (WANs) coupling buyers 20, sellers 30, andGCD server 40 to the Internet. Since the Internet is accessible to thevast majority of buyers and sellers in the world, the present inventionpotentially includes all of these buyers and sellers as buyers 20 andsellers 30 associated with system 10. However, the use of the term“global” should not be interpreted as a geographic limitationnecessarily requiring that GCD 42 provide directory services to buyers20 and sellers 30 around the world (or from any other particular region)or that the content of GCD 42 be from all over the world (or from anyother particular region).

Although buyers 20 and sellers 30 are described as separate entities, abuyer 20 in one transaction may be a seller 30 in another transaction,and vice versa. Moreover, reference to “buyer” or “seller” is meant toinclude a person, a computer system, an organization, or another entitywhere appropriate. For example, a buyer 20 may include a computerprogrammed to autonomously identify a need for a product, search forthat product, and buy that product upon identifying a suitable seller.Although buying and selling are primarily described herein, the presentinvention contemplates any appropriate e-commerce transaction. Moreover,reference to “products” is meant to include goods, real property,services, information, or any other suitable tangible or intangiblethings.

A typical e-commerce transaction may involve a “matching” phase and a“transactional” phase. During the matching phase, a buyer 20 may searchfor a suitable product (meaning any good, real property, service,information, or other tangible or intangible thing that may be thesubject of an e-commerce transaction) offered by one or more sellers 30,identify the most suitable seller 30 (which may involve, for example,identifying the seller 30 offering the lowest price), and contact thatseller 30 to enter the transactional phase. During the transactionalphase, the buyer 20 and seller 30 may negotiate a contract for the saleof the product (which may involve, for example, more clearly definingthe subject of the transaction, negotiating a price, and reaching anagreement on supply logistics) and generate a legal document embodyingthe terms of the negotiated contract. To identify the most suitableseller 30 during the matching phase without the use of GCD 42, a buyer20 may have to access numerous seller web sites to determine whichseller 30 offers certain desired features of the product at the bestprice. Sellers 30 may each provide one or more databases 32, such asrelational databases, that include data identifying the productsavailable from sellers 30 and their features. Each database 32 may beaccessed through the associated seller's web site or in any otherappropriate manner. The multiple one-to-one (one buyer 20 to one seller30) searches that this process requires are inefficient and expensivebecause of the large amount of searching involved in finding a productand because the various offerings of that product by different sellers30 may not be easily compared.

Alternatively, multiple sellers 30 may be grouped in an electronicmarketplace according to the products they provide and a buyer 20 maysearch the offerings of the multiple sellers 30 at a single web site.However, if buyer 20 wishes to obtain several different types ofproducts, buyer 20 may have to go to several different types ofmarketplaces. Furthermore, there may be numerous competing marketplacesthat buyer 20 has to search to perform the matching phase of atransaction for a particular product. One potential method of addressingthis problem is to create a global product database that potentiallyincludes data identifying the features of all the products that anybuyer may wish to obtain. Therefore, the global database would includethe combined contents of every database 32 associated with every seller30. However, such a global database would have many problems. Forexample, the sheer size of the database would make it difficult tosearch and thus the database would suffer from performance problems. Inaddition, it would be difficult to allow large numbers of buyers 20 tosearch the database at once. Furthermore, all sellers 30 would berequired to access the global database to update their information andthe entire database would have to be updated each time a change is made.Many other problems might also exist.

A solution to the above problems, at least in part, is GCD 42. GCD 42 isa universal directory of the contents of multiple seller databases 32(and potentially all seller databases 32). GCD 42 may be implementedusing one or more servers 40 or other computers located at one or morelocations. Most or all of the content in these seller databases 32remains stored in databases 32, but this content is accessible using GCD42. Therefore, like the global database described above, GCD 42 providesbuyers 20 with access to product data relating to a multitude ofproducts (and potentially seller data relating to one or more sellers 30of the products), but unlike the global database, GCD 42 does notattempt to store all of this data in one enormous database. Whereappropriate, reference to “data” is meant to include product data(meaning information reflecting values for certain attributes of aproduct), seller data (meaning information reflecting values for certainseller attributes), or both product data and seller data.

GCD 42 provides a directory of products using a directory structure inwhich products are organized using a hierarchical classification system.A buyer 20 may navigate or search the directory to find a particularproduct class into which products are categorized. The product data (andpotentially seller data) associated with a product included in a productclass may actually be stored in and obtained by GCD 42 from a sellerdatabase 32. However, the requested data may be transparently providedto buyer 20 such that all of the product data may appear to buyer 20 asbeing included in GCD 42. Although product and/or seller data hasprimarily been described as being stored in seller databases 32, thepresent invention contemplates product data being stored in any suitablemanner and being retrieved from any suitable sources. For example,system 10 may include a shared data repository 34 that contains productdata and/or seller data that may be combined with data from one or moreseller databases 32, as described in further detail below.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example directory structure 44 of an example GCD42. Products categorized in GCD 42 may be organized according toschemas. A schema may include a set of product classes (which may bereferred to as a “taxonomy”) organized in a hierarchy, each class beingassociated with a set of product features, characteristics, or otherproduct attributes (which may be referred to as a “product ontology”).For example, pens may have different kinds of tips (such as ball pointor felt tip), different tip sizes (such as fine, medium, or broad), anddifferent ink colors (such as blue, black, or red). Accordingly, aschema may include a class corresponding to pens that has a productontology including tip type, tip size, and color, or other appropriateattributes. Within a class, products may be defined by product attributevalues (such as, for example, ball point, medium tip, blue ink).Reference to “value” is meant to include any appropriate data reflectingan instance of a product attribute or a seller attribute. Productattribute values and seller attribute values may include numbers,letters, figures, characters, symbols, or other suitable information fordescribing a product or a seller, respectively. In one embodiment, aproduct ontology may be divided into entry-required attributes (meaningattributes for which a value has to be provided) and entry-optionalattributes (meaning attributes for which a value is optional), and thesecategories may be further divided into commercial features and designfeatures (or any other suitable divisions).

In addition to a taxonomy and product ontologies, a schema may include aset of attributes for each seller (which may be referred to as a “sellerontology”). Such attributes may include geographic restrictions (such asserved markets), currencies accepted by each seller, collaboration toolsaccepted by each seller, contract terms accepted by each seller, typesof contracts accepted by each seller, levels of buyer credit required byeach seller, and any other suitable seller attributes. Similar to aproducts within a product class, sellers offering products within aproduct class may be defined by seller attribute values corresponding toseller attributes. Accordingly, a schema may include a set of classes,each including one or more products, and each class may be associatedwith a set of product attributes and a set of seller attributes.

In example directory structure 44, products may be organized andcataloged according to industry standard schemas 46 or other appropriateschemas, as described below. Within industry standard schemas 46, thereare two example classes: a direct materials class 48 and an indirectmaterials class 50. Each of these classes 48 and 50 includes severalsub-classes (which may themselves include sub-classes). Therefore, thenumerous classes of directory structure 44 form a “tree-like”hierarchical structure into which products may be categorized. Forexample purposes, certain portions of directory structure 44 are“expanded” in FIG. 2 to show various levels of classes. The “level” of aclass is indicated by the number of other classes between that class anda root class (such as industry standard schemas class 46). For example,indirect material class 50 is at the same level in directory structureas direct material class 48. Indirect material class 50 may include anoffice and computer supplies class 52, which includes a desk suppliesclass 54, which includes a writing utensils class 56. Furthermore,writing utensils class 56 includes a pens class 58, which includesnumerous pen type classes 60 a–60 n (“n” indicating that any number ofclasses 60 may be included in pens class 58). Each of classes 50, 52,54, 56, 58, and 60 is located at a different level of directorystructure 44. A class at any level in directory structure 44 may includeone or more sub-classes, those sub-classes may include one or moresub-classes, and so on until a desired specificity of categorization isreached. A series of classes from a highest level class (the broadestclass) to a lowest level class (the most specific class) may be referredto as a “branch” of directory structure 44. For example, classes 46, 48,50, 52, 54, 56, 58, and 60 b form one branch of directory structure 44.

Although example directory structure 44 may use industry standardschemas 46 as described above, any other appropriate schemas 62 may beused in addition to or instead of industry standard schemas 46. Forexample, while industry standard schemas 46 may be organized from aseller's viewpoint, other schemas 62 may be used that organize productsfrom a buyer's viewpoint. For example, a buyer 20 may wish to furnish akitchen of a new house with various products, such as appliances, windowtreatments, paint, cabinetry, plumbing, dishes, and cooking utensils.Using one schema 62, these products may be organized into a variety ofunrelated classes based on certain features of the products (forexample, certain kitchen appliances may be categorized in an electronicsclass 52 of directory structure 44 while paint may be categorized intoan industrial class 52). However, another example schema 62 maycategorize all such products into a home products class (which mayinclude several classes further categorizing the products, such as akitchen products class which includes a kitchen appliances class, whichincludes a refrigerator class, and so on). Therefore, the same productmay be included in multiple schemas 62. These alternative schemas may beincluded in directory structure 44 and may be stored as a part of orseparate from GCD 42.

A buyer 20 may navigate through directory structure 44 by expanding orcollapsing various classes as desired. For example, FIG. 2 illustratesan expansion of certain classes of directory structure 44 to reach afelt-tip pen class 60 b. Once a buyer 20 has navigated to a class thatis specific enough for buyer 20 (and/or a class that is at the end of abranch), buyer 20 may perform a search for products within that class.For example, buyer 20 can search for all products in writing utensilsclass 56 that are blue felt-tip pins having medium tips. Alternatively,if buyer 20 navigates to the end of a branch of directory structure 44,such as felt-tip pen class 60 b, GCD 42 may then enable buyer 20 tosearch for such pens that have blue ink and medium tips (which may reachthe same result as the search above).

Buyer 20 may also search for sellers matching one or more sellerattribute values within a product class. For example, in addition tosearching for all products in writing utensils class 56 that are bluefelt-tip pins having medium tips, buyer 20 may search for sellers 30serving Texas that accept U.S. dollars. Buyer 20 may search for productsmatching certain product attribute values and sellers matching certainseller attribute values in any appropriate manner. In one embodiment,for example, buyer 20 provides search criteria including both values forproduct attributes and for seller attributes (search criteria mayinstead be generated automatically, in whole or in part, as describedbelow), and server 40 searches for products that match the productattribute criteria and are offered by sellers matching the sellerattribute criteria. In another embodiment, buyer 20 provides onlyproduct attribute values as search criteria, and server 40 limits itssearch for products matching the product attribute criteria to databases32 associated with sellers 30 known to match seller attribute criteriathat buyer 20 may want according to a buyer profile or otherwise.

As described above, in one embodiment product data (at least productdata more detailed than data provided by a taxonomy) and seller data arenot stored in GCD 42, but are stored in databases 32. For example, aseller 30 may maintain a relational database 32 that includes aplurality of tables containing product attribute values for a variety ofproducts and seller attribute values for each product, a set ofproducts, or all of the products offered by seller 30. Product data andseller data may be integrated into one or more tables or may besegregated into different tables. Moreover, product data and seller datafor a seller 30 may be stored in the same or separate databases. One ormore pointers may be associated with each class to identify the locationof one or more databases 32 that include product data and/or seller datafor products contained in that class or to identify particular data indatabases 32. Therefore, GCD 42 may execute a search for products indatabases 32 identified by a pointer corresponding to a user-selected(or automatically selected) class. GCD 42 may also return the networklocation (such as a uniform resource locator (URL) or other networkaddress) of the database 32 to buyer 20 so that buyer 20 mayindependently access database 32. Databases 32 may be searched using anyappropriate method including, but not limited to, a structured querylanguage (SQL) query.

GCD 42 may be implemented using the lightweight directory accessprotocol (LDAP), which enables directories to be provided using thetree-like structure described above. However, any other appropriatetechnique or protocol for creating GCD 42 may alternatively be used andGCD 42 may have any appropriate structure. Furthermore, GCD 42 may be anobject-oriented directory (which is also provided by LDAP) such thateach class in directory structure 44 includes the attributes of parentclasses in which the class is a sub-class. In this embodiment, a productclass listed at the end of a branch of the tree structure includes allof the attributes of its parent classes in the branch. Furthermore, eachproduct included in a database 32 may be an object that includes all theattributes of the classes in which the product is included. Thus, when asearch is performed from a class at the end of a branch of directorystructure 44, the search query may automatically include any appropriateattributes of parent classes of the class.

For example, if a buyer 20 has navigated through directory structure 44to felt-tip pens class 60 b, a search performed by buyer 20 (or by GCD42 on behalf of buyer 20) from felt-tip pens class 60 b mayautomatically be limited to a search for felt-tip pens and buyer 20 mayintroduce additional desired search criteria (such as blue ink andmedium tip). Therefore, if a database 32 searched includes product datarelating to a variety of writing utensils, a search of database 32 maybe automatically limited by GCD 42 to only include felt-tip pens withinthat database 32. Buyer 20 may also identify additional productattribute values and/or seller attribute values as additional searchcriteria.

When GCD 42 has performed a search of the databases 32 identified by apointer or pointers associated with a class that buyer 20 has selected(or that has been automatically selected), GCD 42 may return productdata and/or seller data associated with one or more products matchingthe search criteria. GCD 42 may integrate the product data and/or sellerdata resulting from the search into directory structure 44 so that thedata appears to buyer 20 as being part of GCD 42. GCD 42 mayalternatively present the results of the search in any other appropriatemanner. Each product resulting from the search may be an object which isunique instance of the class in which buyer 20 is searching.Furthermore, each such object (and its location) may be uniquelyidentified using a numbering scheme corresponding to directory structure44.

In summary, a buyer 20 may search for a product matching certain productattribute values available from a seller matching certain sellerattribute values using GCD 42 and thus eliminate or reduce the need forbuyer 20 to individually search numerous seller databases 32 to find thedesired product available from a suitable seller. GCD 42 provides accessto product and/or seller data relating to these numerous products usingdirectory structure 44, which organizes products using a hierarchical,object-oriented classification system. Buyer 20 may navigate or searchdirectory structure 44 to find a particular classification of productsand various information associated with the products within thisclassification, initiate a search of databases 32 including productand/or seller data relating to a product, and then communicate with anappropriate database 32 through GCD server 40 or otherwise. Such accessto vast numbers of products is provided without the requirement that alldata about the products and/or sellers be stored in a global database.Instead, this data may be stored in seller databases 32 that can bereadily accessed using GCD 42.

One problem that may be associated with the use of the various sellerdatabases 32 is that these databases 32 may include product data aboutthe same class of product (for example, felt-tip pens), but may identifyproducts of that class using different attribute values, may usedifferent names for the same product attribute value, and/or mayquantify or distinguish product attribute values differently (usingdifferent units of measurement, for example). The same may be true forseller data that may be contained in databases 32. Some of these issuesmay be solved using translation mechanisms that convert the data into auniform format used by GCD 42. Alternatively, sellers 30 may create newdatabases 32 or manually modify existing databases 32 (or may hire athird party to create or modify databases 32) to conform to a uniformstandard in anticipation of a database 32 being used in association withGCD 42.

One disadvantage to seller 30 (or a third party) creating data that isappropriate for use with GCD 42 is that the generation of such data istypically expensive and time-consuming. If seller 30 has already createdproduct data (for example, for access by buyers 20 using the seller'sweb site), seller 30 may be reluctant to repeat the process and expenseof recreating, expanding, reformatting, translating, or otherwisemodifying existing product data into a format appropriate for use withGCD 42. However, if seller 30 does not properly format its product dataand instead uses a pre-existing data format in conjunction with GCD 42,the seller's product data may not be properly associated with GCD 42 andseller 30 may be disadvantaged during the matching phase of atransaction. For example, if the product ontology associated with pensclass 58 in directory structure 44 includes ink color as a productattribute and seller 30 does not have this information in its productdata or does not refer to this information as “ink color” in itsdatabase 32, then a search conducted using GCD 42 for pens having aparticular ink color may not properly identify products in database 32that meet the search criteria. Alternatively, the seller's products maybe identified in the search results, but may be ranked lower in thesearch results since seller 30 does not provide information about theink color or does provide the information but does not format theinformation appropriately for use with GCD 42.

One solution to the above problem is to provide a shared product datarepository 34 that includes product data relating to numerous commonproducts and which is properly formatted and complete for use with GCD42. The product data in repository 34 may be made available, for a feeor otherwise, to sellers 30 who do not wish to create (or pay a thirdparty to create) product data for use with GCD 42 or recreate, expand,reformat, translate, or otherwise modify existing product data for usewith GCD 42. As an example only, although hundreds of sellers 30participating in system 10 may sell pens, there may be only a fewmanufacturers that make the pens sold by sellers 30. Therefore, it maybe more efficient and cost effective for the manufacturers to createmuch of the product data for the pens that they produce and provide thisdata in repository 34 instead of each seller 30 creating redundantproduct data for the pens. Alternatively, the product data in repository34 may be created by an entity associated with GCD 42 or any otherappropriate entity.

Product data relating to a particular product that is notseller-specific and/or that changes relatively infrequently (compared to“dynamic” product data, described below) may be created by themanufacturer or another entity and stored in repository 34 for use bysellers 30. This data may be referred to as “static” product data.Examples of static product data relating to a pen may include datarelating to ink color, tip type, and tip size of the pen. Other productdata relating to a product that is seller-specific and/or that changesrelatively frequently (compared to “static” product data) may be createdby sellers 30 and stored in seller databases 32. This data may bereferred to as “dynamic” product data. Examples of dynamic product datarelating to a pen may include data relating to the price, availability,and lead time associated with the pen. Optimally, the combination of thestatic and dynamic data relating to a particular product will includevalues for each of the product attributes included in the productontology of the classes of GCD 42 in which the product is classified.For example, pens class 58 in GCD 42 may have an associated productontology that includes ink color, tip type, tip size, price,availability, and lead time attributes. Preferably the combination ofstatic product data in repository 34 and dynamic product data in aseller database 32 relating to the pen includes values for each of theseproduct attributes.

When a seller 30 wishes to sell a product using GCD 42, the seller 30may first determine whether repository 34 includes static product datafor the product. Seller 30 may obtain information regarding what productdata is included in repository 34 by querying GCD server 40, by queryingan entity associated with the repository 34, by directly accessingrepository 34, or using any other appropriate technique. If static datafor the particular product or products is included in repository 34,then seller 30 may request that the static product data be associatedwith seller 30 and one or more of its products. As described above, oneor more pointers may be associated with each class to identify thelocation of one or more seller databases 32 that include product datafor products contained in that class or to identify particular data indatabases 32. In addition, pointers associated with a class may identifythe location of a repository 34 and may identify particular data inrepository 34. Furthermore, one or more pointers to repository 34 may belinked to one or more pointers to a seller database 32 such that theinformation from the seller database 32 and repository 34 may be merged.Alternatively, the static product data in repository 34 may be linkedwith one or more sets of dynamic product data in one or more sellerdatabases 32. Dynamic product data from seller database 32 may be mergedwith static product data from repository 34 and the combined data may beprovided to a buyer 20 as a result of a product search, as is describedin further detail below with reference to FIG. 5.

Although repository 34 is illustrated as a single storage location,repository 34 may include multiple storage locations at the same ordifferent physical locations. Any appropriate number of storagelocations located in a number of physical locations may be used (forexample, the storage locations may be distributed in various geographicregions). GCD server 40 may search each of these distributedrepositories 34 as appropriate to obtain static product data that isresponsive to a buyer's search. Alternatively, pointers associated witha class may direct GCD server 40 to one or more particular storagelocations. In addition, if multiple repositories 34 are used, eachrepository 34 may include identical product data, some common and somedifferent product data, or entirely different product data. Furthermore,repository or repositories 34 may store the product data in anyappropriate format using any appropriate storage medium. Moreover, itshould be noted that although shared product data repository isdescribed as including static product data, seller databases 32 may alsoinclude static product data. This static product data may or not be madeavailable to buyers 20 using GCD 42.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example table 150 that may be included in a sellerdatabase 32 and/or repository 34. Database 32 and repository 34 mayinclude one or more tables 150, and each table 150 may contain datarelating to one or more products. For example, example table 150includes data relating to different types of pens. Table 150 may alsoinclude data for other types of products (for example, other types ofoffice supplies), or such data may be contained in other tables 150 indatabase 32 and/or repository 34. Table 150 includes a plurality ofcolumns 152 that each include data relating to a particular productattribute or seller attribute. Although an example number of columns 152including example product attribute values and seller attribute valuesare illustrated, it should be understood that any appropriate number andtype of product attributes, seller attributes, or other categories ofdata may be included in table 150. Moreover, as described briefly above,seller data and product data may be segregated into different tablesinstead of being integrated into the same table as shown in exampletable 150.

Table 150 also includes a number of rows 154 that may each correspond toa particular product and that each include values for one or more of theproduct attributes and seller attributes. Each of the values (which maybe numeric, textual, or in any other appropriate format) is located atthe intersection of the row 154 associated with a particular product andthe column 152 that includes a particular product attribute or sellerattribute. Each of these intersections may be referred to as a field orcell 156 of table 150. Where seller data and product data areintegrated, each row 154 may contain all of the product data and sellerdata for the product corresponding to that row 154. Alternatively, theremay be a row or set of rows dedicated to seller data that may apply toall products offered by a seller 30 or a subset of all such products.Where seller data and product data are segregated, each row in theseller data table may correspond to a set of seller attribute valuesthat may be linked to a set of one or more products in the product datatable such that seller data for a product may be accessed when productdata for that product is accessed, and vice versa.

The data in one or more columns 152 of table 150 may be indexed toincrease the speed with which database reads may be conducted. Forexample, the fields 156 of ink color column 152 d and tip size column152 e may be indexed so that a database query for a pen having aparticular ink color and tip size may be quickly performed. Data intable 150 may be indexed using any appropriate database indexingtechnique. The typical result of such indexing is that when GCD 42 or abuyer 20 requests indexed data from a database 32 and/or repository 34,the associated database management system (or other appropriateinterface to database 32 and/or repository 34) does not have to searchthrough every field 156 in the tables 150 included in database 32 and/orrepository 34 to locate the requested data. Instead, the data may beindexed such that when a query is submitted for products having certainproduct attribute values and/or sellers 30 having certain sellerattribute values that have been indexed, the database management systemalready knows the locations of such products in table 150 and may returndata associated with these products without searching the entire table150 or database 32 and/or repository 34 for the products. For example,if the ink color fields 156 and tip size fields 156 of columns 152 d and152 e, respectively, are indexed, the index will typically identify thelocation of all products having black ink and a medium tip size.

If a query is submitted that also specifies a value of one or morenon-indexed product attributes (for example, a query for pensmanufactured by ABC Company, if the manufacturer fields 156 in column152 c are not indexed) and/or seller attributes, then the associateddatabase management system may perform a search of database 32 and/orrepository 34 for products that include the specified value of the oneor more non-indexed attributes or seller attributes. However, such asearch may be limited to the products already identified (using theindex) as including specified values of indexed attributes (for example,pens having black ink and a medium tip) and/or seller attributes thatare also included in the search. Therefore, the amount of time requiredto perform the search may be reduced even though one or more of theproduct attribute values or seller attribute values that are searchedfor are not indexed.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example e-commerce system 10 in further detail. Asdescribed above, numerous buyers 20 and sellers 30 may be coupled to GCDserver 40 using network 12. Buyers 20 may access server 40 using a webbrowser or in any other appropriate manner and server 40 may providebuyers 20 with access to GCD 42 using a web server or in any otherappropriate manner. Although GCD 42 is shown as being internal to GCDserver 40, GCD 42 may be internal or external to GCD server 40, asdescribed above. GCD server 40 may also include hardware and/or softwarefor implementing one or more GCD interfaces 43. A buyer 20 may accessserver 40 and use a GCD interface 43 to search or navigate GCD 42 and/orseller databases 32. Information may be communicated between buyers 20,sellers 30, and GCD 42 using hypertext transport protocol (HTTP),extensible markup language (XML), simple object access protocol (SOAP),or any other suitable communication technique. Each buyer 20 and seller30 may be issued a unique identifier so that the participants in atransaction facilitated by GCD 42 may be identified. Each buyer 20 andseller 30 may also be assigned a role with respect to a transaction. Asdescribed above, a buyer 20 in one transaction may be a seller 30 inanother transaction, and vice versa.

In an example transaction, a buyer 20 may access a GCD interface 43 andperform a search of GCD 42. GCD interface 43 may allow buyer 20 to bothnavigate or “browse” the classes of GCD 42 and to search for aparticular class or classes. For example, buyer 20 may either navigateGCD 42 to find a class into which pens are categorized or buyer 20 maysearch GCD 42 for class names including the word “pen.” Any othersuitable methods for identifying a particular class may also be used.When buyer 20 has located the appropriate class for the product buyer 20desires, buyer 20 may then request a listing of products in that classmatching certain product attribute values. For example, if buyer 20 isbrowsing felt-tip pens class 60 b, buyer 20 may request all products inclass 60 b (felt-tip pens) that have red ink and a fine tip and that aresold by a seller 30 located in the United States.

A search interface 45, or any other appropriate component of GCD server40, may facilitate such a request by searching or requesting searches ofrepository 34 and/or seller databases 32 identified by one or morepointers associated with felt-tip pens class 60 b, as described above.Search interface 45 may provide buyer 20 a search form in which to enterone or more search criteria. The types of search criteria that may beused may be identified in the search form or buyer may be allowed toperform a general search of databases 32 and/or repository 34 forcertain terms. For example, search interface 45 may provide buyer 20with a search form tailored for class 60 b that includes fields wherebuyer 20 can specify a desired ink color, tip thickness, or any otherappropriate product-related or seller-related criteria. In oneembodiment, the fields of the search form correspond to some or all ofthe product attributes within the product ontology and/or sellerattributes within the seller ontology corresponding to the product classthat has been selected, and buyer 20 may enter values for the productattributes and seller attributes in the corresponding search formfields. In lieu of a search form, search interface 45 may insteadprovide a single field where buyer can enter in desired search terms,such as “red” and “fine” (multiple search terms may be entered usingBoolean operators or any other appropriate technique).

Search interface 45, or any other appropriate component of GCD server40, may also facilitate search requests by accessing a buyer profile forbuyer 20 containing information compiled from previous search requestsmade by buyer 20, previous e-commerce transactions involving buyer 20,or other events or actions on the part of buyer 20. For example, a buyerprofile may contain a list of sellers 30 matching seller attributevalues that buyer 20 may want. Such a list may be compiled from theresults of previous searches by buyer 20. Search interface 45 may accessthe profile for buyer 20 for any suitable purpose. In one embodiment,search interface 45 may access the profile for buyer 20 to automaticallygenerate search criteria, such as product attribute values and/or sellerattribute values, for a search. Search interface 45 may also access theprofile for buyer 20 to limit its search for products matching productattribute values provided by buyer 20 (or generated automatically) todatabases 32 associated with sellers 30 known to match seller attributevalues that buyer 20 may want (and/or data in repository 34 associatedwith such sellers 30).

Based on search criteria provided by buyer 20 (and/or based onappropriate attributes of the class from which the search is conducted),search interface 45 may communicate a query to one or more appropriateseller databases 32 and/or repository 34 requesting that databases 32and/or repository 34 each return a listing of all products (includingassociated product data and/or seller data) that meet the searchcriteria. Databases 32 and/or repository 34 may also return datarelating to attribute values that were not included in the searchcriteria. For example, databases 32 may return a price and availabilityof products that meet the search criteria even if price and availabilitywere not search criteria. The responses to the queries of databases 32and/or repository 34 (which may be referred to as the “search results”)may be displayed to buyer 20 in any appropriate manner. For example, theproducts may be sorted in order of relevance to the search criteria.Furthermore, GCD 42 may order the product listing based on a requestfrom buyer 20. For example, buyer 20 may request that the matchingproducts be sorted by price and listed in order from least expensive tomost expensive.

The sorting of search results may be performed by GCD server 40 (oranother appropriate component associated with GCD 42). For example, inparticular embodiments, seller databases 32 (and potentially sharedproduct data repository 34) may return their respective search resultsto GCD server 40 (or directly to buyer 20) in response to a search querywithout sorting these results or limiting the returned results accordingto their relevance. In such a case, GCD server 40 (or a componentassociated with buyer 20) merges the search results from each of theseller databases 32 and may perform a sort of the merged resultsaccording to a pre-specified sort order or according to a sort orderrequested by a buyer 20. GCD server 40 then communicates some or all ofthese sorted results to the requesting buyer 20 (for example, using GCDinterface 43). However, such a technique may be disadvantageous sinceGCD server 40 must sort all of the unsorted search results from sellerdatabases 32 and since seller databases 32 must each communicate allmatching search results to GCD server 40 without regard to the requestedor specified sort order. Such a technique thus requires valuablecomputing and/or storage resources.

To address these potential disadvantages, particular embodiments may useGCD server 40 and/or seller databases 32 (and potentially shared datarepository 34) to perform sorting of search results. For example, eachseller database 32 may perform a sort of the search results from theseller database 32 and communicate some or all of the sorted searchresults to GCD server 40 (or directly to a buyer 20). GCD server 40 (ora component associated with buyer 20) merges the search results receivedfrom multiple seller databases 32 and sorts the merged search results.Thus seller databases 32 perform a pre-sorting of their respectivesearch results in “parallel” (although not necessarily at the same time)before the search results are sorted by GCD server 40. The term “sellerdatabase” is meant to encompass a database management system or otherappropriate components for performing searching and/or sorting that areincluded in or associated with each seller database 32. Since the searchresults received from seller databases 32 are pre-sorted, the mergingand sorting of these results by GCD server 40 may use less processingand/or data storage resources than sorting previously unsorted searchresults from numerous seller databases 32. Furthermore, based on thenumber of search results that buyer 20 wishes to view at once, eachseller database 32 may only communicate a portion of the sorted searchresults from the seller database 32. Therefore, less data may becommunicated to and sorted by GCD server 40. The process of pre-sortingor otherwise pre-processing search results at seller databases 32 isdescribed in further detail below with reference to FIG. 5.

When GCD server 40 has communicated search results to buyer 20 (sortedor otherwise), in the form of a list of products for example, buyer 20may select a product from the list to indicate a desire to initiate apurchase or other transaction regarding the product. On such aselection, GCD 42 may communicate a repository identifier (RID)identifying the selected seller 30 and a globally unique identifier(GUID) for the product to buyer 20. For example, an RID may be thenetwork address (such as an IP address) of a seller network node 30 ormay be associated with the network address in a table (in which case GCD42 may use the RID to look up the associated network address and thencommunicate the network address to buyer 20). Buyer may access theseller 30 using the RID (or network address) and request a transactionregarding the product using the GUID. GCD 42 may even provide a linkincluding a URL of a web site associated with the seller 30 or mayprovide another appropriate method for buyer 20 to be connected toseller 20. Although only a single example arrow (between buyer 20 n andseller 30 n) is shown to illustrate communication between buyers 20 andsellers 30, it should be understood that any buyer 20 may communicatewith any seller 30 to conduct appropriate transactions.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method for pre-processing of searchresults at seller databases 32 before those search results arecommunicated to GCD 42 or buyer 20. Although an example pre-sorting ofsearch results at seller databases 32 is described below, otherappropriate types of pre-processing at seller databases 32 may beperformed. For example, search results may be manipulated, truncated, orotherwise modified before being communicated to GCD server 40 to reducethe amount of data communicated to GCD server 40 and/or to improve thedata for display to a buyer 20. Furthermore, any other appropriatetechnique that transfers processing tasks from GCD server 40 to sellerdatabases 32 may also be used in addition to or instead of the methoddescribed below.

The example method begins at step 102 where search interface 45 of GCDserver 40 communicates a search query and one or more sorting parametersto multiple seller databases 32 (and potentially shared data repository34). The search query may be generated by a buyer 20 after selecting oneor more classes of GCD 42 or the search query may be generated in anyother appropriate manner. The seller databases 32 to which the searchquery is communicated by be selected according to pointers in GCD 42 orin any other appropriate manner. As described below, the sortingparameters communicated in association with the search query indicatehow the results of the search query are to be sorted by and communicatedfrom seller databases 32. The sorting parameters may be generated inresponse to input from a buyer 20 initiating a search, may beautonomously generated by GCD server 40, and/or may be generated in anyother appropriate manner.

At step 104, the seller databases 32 receive the search query andsorting parameters. Product data responsive to the search query isretrieved from each seller database 32 at step 106. This product datafrom each seller database 32 may be referred to as the local searchresults from that database 32. The search of each seller database 32 maybe performed using an associated database management system or any otherappropriate components associated with or included in the sellerdatabase 32. At step 108, each seller database 32 sorts its local searchresults according to the sorting parameters. As described above, thissorting may be performed by a database management system or any otherappropriate component associated with or included in the seller database32.

As an example only, the sorting parameters that are specified by buyer20 or that are otherwise generated may include information regarding oneor more product and/or seller attributes that are to be used to sort thesearch results, the order of the sort, and the number of search resultsto be displayed to buyer 20 at a time. For instance, buyer 20 mayindicate using GCD interface 43 that the search results are to be sortedby price with the search result associated with the lowest pricedproduct listed first. Buyer 20 may in this example also indicate thatten search results should be communicated to buyer 20 (for example,displayed to buyer 20 using GCD interface 43) at a time. The number ofsearch results to be communicated to buyer 20 at a time may be referredto as “n”. Based on these example sorting parameters, each sellerdatabase 32 sorts the local search results by price using anyappropriate sorting technique.

At step 110, each seller database 32 communicates some or all of thesorted local search results to GCD server 40. In one embodiment, ifthere are more than n local search results at a particular database 32(in this example, more than ten search results), then the sellerdatabase 32 communicates the first ten local search results to GCDserver 40. If the number of local search results is less than or equalto n, then the seller database 32 communicates all of the local searchresults to GCD server 40. In this embodiment, GCD server 40 thereforereceives n or less local search results from each seller database 32.GCD server 40 merges the sorted local search results received from eachseller database 32 at step 112 and sorts the merged search results atstep 114. The merging and sorting may be performed by search interface45 or one or more other appropriate components associated with GCDserver 40. The sorting at step 114 is performed using the same orsimilar sorting parameters as those that were communicated to sellerdatabases 32 and any appropriate sorting technique may be used. Forexample, the merged search results may be sorted by price and arrangedin order of increasing price. Since the local search results arepre-sorted at each seller database 32, the sorting of the merged searchresults typically requires less processing and is faster than if thepre-sorting had not been performed.

It should be noted that due to the limit that may be placed on thenumber of local search results communicated from each seller database32, GCD server 40 may initially receive a maximum of “M×n” total localsearch results from seller databases 32, where “M” is the total numberof seller databases 32 communicating local search results to GCD server40. This number may be much smaller than the total number of localsearch results generated at seller databases 32. Therefore, the amountof data that is communicated from seller databases 32 to GCD server 40may be significantly reduced using embodiments of the present invention.Furthermore, since the local search results from each seller database 32are pre-sorted, the local search results that are likely to be the mostrelevant are communicated first. Moreover, the pre-sorting at sellerdatabases 32 simplifies the sorting performed by GCD server 40 and thusdistributes some of the task of sorting from GCD server 40 to the sellerdatabases 32.

At step 116, some or all of the sorted merged search results arecommunicated to buyer 20. In one embodiment, if the number of mergedsearch results is greater than n, then the first n search results fromthe sorted merged search results are communicated to buyer 20. If thenumber of merged search results is less than or equal to n, then all ofthe search results are communicated to buyer 20. In this embodiment,since the top n sorted local search results were requested from eachseller database 32, the top n sorted merged search results willaccurately represent the top n search results among the combined sellerdatabases 32. Furthermore, it should be noted that as an alternative tosome of the steps described above, seller databases 32 may communicatethe local search results directly to buyer 20 and a component associatedwith buyer 20 may perform the merging and sorting.

GCD server 40 may indicate, when communicating the initial n searchresults to buyer 20 at step 116, that additional search results areavailable (search results in addition to the search results communicatedat step 116). At step 118, GCD server 40 determines whether buyer 20 hasrequested additional search results to be communicated from GCD server40. If buyer 20 does not request additional search results, the methodends. If buyer 20 requests additional search results, GCD server 40determines at step 120 if there are remaining sorted merged searchresults that may be communicated to buyer 20 (for example, if there weremore than n sorted merged search results at step 114). If so, GCD servercommunicates the next n (or any other appropriate number, such as aspecific number requested by buyer 20) merged search results to buyer 20at step 122. If there are no remaining merged search results, at step124 GCD server 40 may request additional sorted local search resultsfrom seller databases 32 (for example, the next n sorted search resultsfrom each seller database 32). If there are some remaining merged searchresults, but not enough to fulfill the request of buyer 20, GCD server40 may also perform step 124 and communicate the remaining merged searchresults along with additional sorted local search results obtained fromseller databases 32 (after they have been merged and sorted by GCDserver 40).

As indicated at step 126, if there are remaining local search results atone or more seller databases 32, each seller databases 32 having suchresults communicates the next n of the remaining sorted local results(or all of the remaining local search results, if there are less than nremaining) to GCD server 40 at step 128. The method then returns to step112 such that GCD server 40 merges and sorts the local search resultsand communicates the next n sorted merged search results (if available)to buyer 20. The method then continues as described above to determinewhether buyer 20 has requested additional search results and whethersuch search results are available. If there are no remaining localsearch results at any seller database 32, GCD server 40 communicatesthis information to buyer 20 at step 130 and the method ends.

In summary, a buyer 20 may select one or more attributes by which theresults of a search query of multiple seller databases 32 may be sorted.A pre-sorting may be performed at each seller database 32 and a selectednumber of sorted search results from each seller database 32 may becommunicated to GCD server 40. GCD server 40 may then merge and sort thesorted local search results communicated from seller databases 32 andcommunicate a selected number of these sorted merged search results tobuyer 20. Since the search results received from seller databases 32 arepre-sorted, the merging and sorting of these results by GCD server 40may use less processing and data storage resources than sortingpreviously unsorted search results from numerous seller databases 32.Furthermore, based on the number of search results that buyer 20 wishesto view at once, each seller database 32 may only communicate a portionof its sorted local search results. Therefore, less data may becommunicated to and sorted by GCD server 40 and this communication andprocessing may therefore be performed faster than with previoustechniques.

Although the present invention has been described with severalembodiments, divers changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, andmodifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art, and it isintended that the invention encompass all such changes, substitutions,variations, alterations, and modifications falling within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

1. A computer-implemented electronic commerce system comprising one ormore computer systems each comprising one or more processing units andone or more memory units, the electronic commerce system furthercomprising computer-executable instructions stored in memory to:communicate a search query for one or more products to one or moreseller databases that contain product data, each seller databaseoperable to generate local search results responsive to the searchquery; communicate one or more sorting parameters to the sellerdatabases, the sorting parameters directing each seller database to sortthe local search results generated at each seller database in responseto the search query such that the sorted local search results arepre-sorted prior to being communicated to the one or more computersystems; receive sorted local search results from one or more of theseller databases, the sorted local search results having been pre-sortedby the one or more seller databases prior to being communicated to theone or more computer systems; if the received sorted local searchresults comprise sorted local search results received from more than oneof the seller databases: merge the sorted local search results receivedfrom the seller databases to generate merged search results; sort themerged search results according to the sorting parameters; communicatethe sorted merged search results to a user; and carry out an electroniccommerce transaction for at least one of the products represented in thesorted merged search results; and if the received sorted local searchresults comprise sorted local search results received from a single oneof the seller databases, communicate the sorted local search resultsreceived from the single one of the seller databases to a user and carryout an electronic commerce transaction for at least one of the productsrepresented in the sorted local search results.
 2. The system of claim1, wherein the sorting parameters further direct each seller database toinitially communicate no more than a specified number of sorted localsearch results in response to the search query and direct the one ormore computer systems to initially communicate no more than thespecified number of merged search results to the user.
 3. The system ofclaim 2, wherein the one or more computer systems are further operableto: initially communicate no more than the specified number of sortedmerged search results to the user; receive a request for additionalsearch results from the user; determine that all of the sorted mergedsearch results have been communicated to the user; request additionalsorted local search results from the seller databases; receive no morethan the specified number of additional sorted local search results fromone or more of the seller databases, the sorting parameters directingthat each seller database communicate no more than the specified numberof sorted local search results at a time; merge the additional sortedlocal search results received from the seller databases to generateadditional merged search results; sort the additional merged searchresults according to the sorting parameters; and communicate theadditional sorted merged search results to the user.
 4. The system ofclaim 2, wherein the number of merged search results is less than orequal to the product of the specified number and the number of sellerdatabases to which the search query is communicated.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more computer systems are further operableto: receive a request from the user for a specified number of searchresults to be initially communicated to the user; and initiallycommunicate no more than the specified number of sorted merged searchresults to the user.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or morecomputer systems are further operable to communicate a sorting parameterdirecting each seller database to initially communicate no more than thespecified number of sorted local search results in response to thesearch query.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the sorting parametersare selected from the group consisting of product attributes, productattribute values, seller attributes, and seller attribute values.
 8. Acomputer-implemented method for processing search results in anelectronic commerce system, the method performed using one or morecomputer systems each comprising one or more processing units and one ormore memory units, the method comprising: using the one or more computersystems, communicating a search query for one or more products to one ormore seller databases that contain product data, each seller databaseoperable to generate local search results responsive to the searchquery; using the one or more computer systems, communicating one or moresorting parameters to the seller databases, the sorting parametersdirecting each seller database to sort the local search resultsgenerated at each seller database in response to the search query suchthat the sorted local search results are pre-sorted prior to beingcommunicated from each seller database; using the one or more computersystems, receiving sorted local search results from one or more of theseller databases, the sorted local search results having been pre-sortedby the one or more seller databases prior to being communicated to theone or more computer systems; executing computer-readable instructionsfor processing said search results, said instructions determining: ifthe received sorted local search results comprise sorted local searchresults received from more than one of the seller databases: using theone or more computer systems, merging the sorted local search resultsreceived from the seller databases to generate merged search results;using the one or more computer systems, sorting the merged searchresults according to the sorting parameters; using the one or morecomputer systems, communicating the sorted merged search results to auser; and using the one or more computer systems, carrying out anelectronic commerce transaction for at least one of the productsrepresented in the sorted merged search results; and if the receivedsorted local search results comprise sorted local search resultsreceived from a single one of the seller databases: using the one ormore computer systems, communicating the sorted local search resultsreceived from the single one of the seller databases to a user; andusing the one or more computer systems, carrying out an electroniccommerce transaction for at least one of the products represented in thesorted local search results.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein thesorting parameters further direct each seller database to initiallycommunicate no more than a specified number of sorted local searchresults in response to the search query and direct that no more than thespecified number of merged search results to be initially communicatedto the user.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: initiallycommunicating no more than the specified number of sorted merged searchresults to the user; receiving a request for additional search resultsfrom the user; determining that all of the sorted merged search resultshave been communicated to the user; requesting additional sorted localsearch results from the seller databases; receiving no more than thespecified number of additional sorted local search results from one ormore of the seller databases, the sorting parameters directing that eachseller database communicate no more than the specified number of sortedlocal search results at a time; merging the additional sorted localsearch results received from the seller databases to generate additionalmerged search results; sorting the additional merged search resultsaccording to the sorting parameters; and communicating the additionalsorted merged search results to the user.
 11. The method of claim 9,wherein the number of merged search results is less than or equal to theproduct of the specified number and the number of seller databases towhich the search query is communicated.
 12. The method of claim 8,further comprising: receiving a request from the user for a specifiednumber of search results to be initially communicated to the user; andinitially communicating no more than the specified number of sortedmerged search results to the user.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising communicating a sorting parameter directing each sellerdatabase to initially communicate no more than the specified number ofsorted local search results in response to the search query.
 14. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the sorting parameters are selected from thegroup consisting of product attributes, product attribute values, sellerattributes, and seller attribute values.
 15. Software for processingsearch results in an electronic commerce system, the software embodiedin a computer-readable medium and when executed operable to: communicatea search query for one or more products to one or more seller databasesthat contain product data, each seller database operable to generatelocal search results responsive to the search query; communicate one ormore sorting parameters to the seller databases, the sorting parametersdirecting each seller database to sort the local search resultsgenerated at each seller database in response to the search query suchthat the sorted local search results are pre-sorted prior to beingcommunicated to the one or more computer systems; receive sorted localsearch results from one or more of the seller databases, the sortedlocal search results having been pre-sorted by the one or more sellerdatabases prior to being communicated from each seller database; if thereceived sorted local search results comprise sorted local searchresults received from more than one of the seller databases: merge thesorted local search results received from the seller databases togenerate merged search results; sort the merged search results accordingto the sorting parameters; and communicate the sorted merged searchresults to a user; and carry out an electronic commerce transaction forat least one of the products represented in the sorted merged searchresults; and if the received sorted local search results comprise sortedlocal search results received from a single one of the seller databases:communicate the sorted local search results received from the single oneof the seller databases to a user; and carry out an electronic commercetransaction for at least one of the products represented in the sortedlocal search results.
 16. The software of claim 15, wherein the sortingparameters further direct each seller database to initially communicateno more than a specified number of sorted local search results inresponse to the search query and direct that no more than the specifiednumber of merged search results to be initially communicated to theuser.
 17. The software of claim 16, further operable to: initiallycommunicate no more than the specified number of sorted merged searchresults to the user; receive a request for additional search resultsfrom the user; determine that all of the sorted merged search resultshave been communicated to the user; request additional sorted localsearch results from the seller databases; receive no more than thespecified number of additional sorted local search results from one ormore of the seller databases, the sorting parameters directing that eachseller database communicate no more than the specified number of sortedlocal search results at a time; merge the additional sorted local searchresults received from the seller databases to generate additional mergedsearch results; sort the additional merged search results according tothe sorting parameters; and communicate the additional sorted mergedsearch results to the user.
 18. The software of claim 16, wherein thenumber of merged search results is less than or equal to the product ofthe specified number and the number of seller databases to which thesearch query is communicated.
 19. The software of claim 15, furtheroperable to: receive a request from the user for a specified number ofsearch results to be initially communicated to the user; and initiallycommunicate no more than the specified number of sorted merged searchresults to the user.
 20. The software of claim 19, further operable tocommunicate a sorting parameter directing each seller database toinitially communicate no more than the specified number of sorted localsearch results in response to the search query.
 21. The software ofclaim 15, wherein the sorting parameters are selected from the groupconsisting of product attributes, product attribute values, sellerattributes, and seller attribute values.
 22. A computer-implementedsystem for processing search results in an electronic commerce system,comprising: computer-implemented means for communicating a search queryfor one or more products to one or more seller databases that containproduct data, each seller database operable to generate local searchresults responsive to the search query; computer-implemented means forcommunicating one or more sorting parameters to the seller databases,the sorting parameters directing each seller database to sort the localsearch results generated at each seller database in response to thesearch query such that the sorted local search results are pre-sortedprior to being communicated to the one or more computer systems;computer-implemented means for receiving sorted local search resultsfrom one or more of the seller databases, the sorted local searchresults having been pre-sorted by the one or more seller databases priorto being communicated to the one or more computer systems; if thereceived sorted local search results comprise sorted local searchresults received from more than one of the seller databases:computer-implemented means for merging the sorted local search resultsreceived from the seller databases to generate merged search results;computer-implemented means for sorting the merged search resultsaccording to the sorting parameters; computer-implemented means forcommunicating the sorted merged search results to a user; andcomputer-implemented means for carrying out an electronic commercetransaction for at least one of the products represented in the sortedmerged search results; if the received sorted local search resultscomprise sorted local search results received from a single one of theseller databases: computer-implemented means for communicating thesorted local search results received from the single one of the sellerdatabases to a user; and computer-implemented means for carrying out anelectronic commerce transaction for at least one of the productsrepresented in the sorted local search results.
 23. Acomputer-implemented electronic commerce system comprising one or morecomputer systems each comprising one or more processing units and one ormore memory units, the electronic commerce system further comprisingcomputer-executable instructions stored in memory to: communicate asearch query for one or more products to a plurality of seller databasesthat contain product data, each seller database operable to generatelocal search results responsive to the search query; communicate one ormore sorting parameters to the plurality of seller databases, thesorting parameters directing each seller database to sort the localsearch results generated at each seller database in response to thesearch query such that the sorted local search results are presortedprior to being communicated to the one or more computer systems, thesorting parameters further directing each seller database to initiallycommunicate no more than a specified number of sorted local searchresults in response to the search query and directing the server toinitially communicate no more than a specified number of merged searchresults to the user; receive sorted local search results from two ormore of the plurality of seller databases, the sorted local searchresults having been pre-sorted by the two or more seller databases priorto being communicated to the one or more computer systems merge thesorted local search results received from the two or more sellerdatabases to generate merged search results, the number of merged searchresults being less than or equal to the product of the specified numberand the number of seller databases to which the search query iscommunicated; sort the merged search results according to the sortingparameters; initially communicate no more than the specified number ofsorted merged search results to a user; receive a request for additionalsearch results from the user; determine that all of the sorted mergedsearch results have been communicated to the user; request additionalsorted local search results from the plurality of seller databases;receive no more than the specified number of additional sorted localsearch results from two or more of the seller databases, the sortedlocal search results having been presorted by the two or more sellerdatabases prior to being communicated to the one or more computersystems, the sorting parameters directing that each seller databasecommunicate no more than the specified number of sorted local searchresults at a time; merge the additional sorted local search resultsreceived from the two or more seller databases to generate additionalmerged search results, the number of merged search results being lessthan or equal to the product of the specified number and the number ofseller databases to which the search query is communicated; sort theadditional merged search results according to the sorting parameters;communicate the additional sorted merged search results to the user; andcarry out an electronic commerce transaction for at least one of theproducts represented in the sorted local search results and theadditional merged search results.
 24. A computer-implemented method forprocessing search results in an electronic commerce system, the methodperformed using one or more computer systems each comprising one or moreprocessing units and one or more memory units, the method comprising:using the one or more computer systems, communicating a search query forone or more products to a plurality of seller databases that containproduct data, each seller database operable to generate local searchresults responsive to the search query; using the one or more computersystems, communicating one or more sorting parameters to the pluralityof seller databases, the sorting parameters directing each sellerdatabase to sort the local search results generated at each sellerdatabase in response to the search query such that the sorted localsearch results are pre-sorted prior to being communicated to the one ormore computer systems, the sorting parameters further directing eachseller database to initially communicate no more than a specified numberof sorted local search results in response to the search query anddirecting that no more than a specified number of merged search resultsto be initially communicated to the user; using the one or more computersystems, receiving sorted local search results from two or more of theplurality of seller databases, the sorted local search results havingbeen presorted by the two or more seller databases prior to beingcommunicated to the one or more computer systems: using the one or morecomputer systems, merging the sorted local search results received fromthe two or more seller databases to generate merged search results, thenumber of merged search results being less than or equal to the productof the specified number and the number of seller databases to which thesearch query is communicated; using the one or more computer systems,sorting the merged search results according to the sorting parameters;using the one or more computer systems, initially communicating no morethan the specified number of sorted merged search results to a user;using the one or more computer systems, receiving a request foradditional search results from the user; using the one or more computersystems, determining that all of the sorted merged search results havebeen communicated to the user; using the one or more computer systems,requesting additional sorted local search results from the plurality ofseller databases; using the one or more computer systems, receiving nomore than the specified number of additional sorted local search resultsfrom two or more of the seller databases, the sorted local searchresults having been pre-sorted by the two or more seller databases priorto being communicated to the one or more computer systems, the sortingparameters directing that each seller database communicate no more thanthe specified number of sorted local search results at a time; using theone or more computer systems, merging the additional sorted local searchresults received from the two or more seller databases to generateadditional merged search results, the number of merged search resultsbeing less than or equal to the product of the specified number and thenumber of seller databases to which the search query is communicated;using the one or more computer systems, sorting the additional mergedsearch results according to the sorting parameters; and using the one ormore computer systems, communicating the additional sorted merged searchresults to the user; and carry out an electronic commerce transactionfor at least one of the products represented in the sorted local searchresults and the additional merged search results.
 25. Software forprocessing search results in an electronic commerce system, the softwareembodied in a computer-readable medium and when executed operable to:communicate a search query for one or more products to a plurality ofseller databases that contain product data, each seller databaseoperable to generate local search results responsive to the searchquery; communicate one or more sorting parameters to the sellerdatabases, the sorting parameters directing each seller database to sortthe local search results generated at each seller database in responseto the search query such that the sorted local search results arepre-sorted prior to being communicated to the one or more computersystems, the sorting parameters further directing each seller databaseto initially communicate no more than a specified number of sorted localsearch results in response to the search query and directing that nomore than a specified number of merged search results to be initiallycommunicated to the user; receive sorted local search results from twoor more of the seller databases, the sorted local search results havingbeen pre-sorted by the two or more seller databases prior to beingcommunicated to the one or more computer systems merge the sorted localsearch results received from the two or more seller databases togenerate merged search results, the number of merged search resultsbeing less than or equal to the product of the specified number and thenumber of seller databases to which the search query is communicated;sort the merged search results according to the sorting parameters;initially communicate no more than the specified number of sorted mergedsearch results to a user; receive a request for additional searchresults from the user; determine that all of the sorted merged searchresults have been communicated to the user; request additional sortedlocal search results from the plurality of seller databases; receive nomore than the specified number of additional sorted local search resultsfrom two or more of the plurality of seller databases, the sorted localsearch results having been pre-sorted by the two or more sellerdatabases prior to being communicated to the one or more computersystems, the sorting parameters directing that each seller databasecommunicate no more than the specified number of sorted local searchresults at a time; merge the additional sorted local search resultsreceived from the two or more seller databases to generate additionalmerged search results, the number of merged search results being lessthan or equal to the product of the specified number and the number ofseller databases to which the search query is communicated; sort theadditional merged search results according to the sorting parameters;and communicate the additional sorted merged search results to the user;and carry out an electronic commerce transaction for at least one of theproducts represented in the sorted merged search results and theadditional merged search results.